Introduction

Conditions Governing Access

Conditions Governing Use

Copying and publishing of unpublished manuscript material is subject to copyright restrictions. For such material, written permission to publish must be obtained from the copyright holder(s). Copying of unpublished material for research purposes is permissible 50 years after the death of the creator of the material.

Preferred Citation

Items from this collection should be cited as '[Title or description of manuscript item], Papers of Dorothy Cottrell, National Library of Australia, MS 6085, [box number and series and/or file number]'.

Item Descriptions

Series 1. Dorothy Cottrell's writings

File 1. 1929. March. Typescript of Before Bunny came here. Published in the Ladies Home Journal

A young bride finds it difficult to be a stepmother to a small boy.

This was Dorothy Cottrell's first short story. The first magazine it was offered to, bought it for $500.

File 2. 1932. Magazine Cuttings of the "Dickie" Stories

1. Not without introduction

2. The actress next door

3. Judith runs out of gas

4. Valentine Blush

5. A sock on the Beak

6. Pups versus Divorce

1-4 were published in the American magazine, Liberty.

5-6 were published in Nash's Magazine, No. 5 in 1934.

A small American boy, orphaned, comes from California to live with aunts (older sisters of his mother) in the North Queensland country town of Eolian.

These were never published in Australia.

File 3. 1932. September. Magazine cutting of the "Winks" stories

1. The Peppered-Egg Mystery

2. Illegitimate

3. Little dogs and large (typescript)

1 was published in the Ladies Home Journal (American) in September 1932 and in Pearson's Magazine. 2. The cutting is from Pearson's Magazine v.LXXIV-27. 3. is a typescript.

Winks is an adventurous Australian terrier named "Tiddlywinks". The Winks stories were subsequently published in a volume, Winks his book Houghton Mifflin, Boston and New York 1932 with illustrations by Paul Bransom.

File 4. 1932. September. Magazine cuttings of an "Old Doc story", Into this World. Published in Liberty

A birth in flood time in an Australian and back setting. Doctor has difficulty arriving in time.

File 4. 1933. Magazine cuttings of The Square Peg. Published in Hearst's International-Cosmopolitan of April 1933 and also in Pearson's Magazine

One pup in a litter of Cattle dogs is not trainable for cattle work, but is reprieved when he is taught to carry the invalid small son of the station owner in a homemade carriage. Setting is in south west Queensland.

Dorothy Cottrell herself taught dogs to pull her own carriage when a child.

File 4. 1933. Typescript of Cabbage Roses. Published in the Winchester Story-Teller May 1933

The love-story of a girl of peasant German extraction for a person who joins the Australian army during the 1914-1918 War. Setting and characters based on German settlements on the Darling Downs around Toowoomba. It was reported to the Cottrells that the royal party of Edward VIII travelling to Balmoral had much enjoyed this story which had been read on the train.

1. and 2. published in (? - not known). 3. published in the American August 1934 and in Pearson's Magazine LXXX, 35.

The adventures of an Australian swagman and his dog Tug. Dorothy Cottrell was particularly fond of this character.

File 6. 1935. Cut-outs of the "Spike" stories:

1. Where's that dog Spike?

2. That Dog Spike (author's title Great Fins)

3. Cench Call

4. Bulldog's Chicken

1. Published in American (April 1935), Nash's Magazine and under the title Bullfighter in Summertime, a scholastic magazine.

2. Published in Good Housekeeping and Hearst's International Cosmopolitan in June 1938.

3. Published in Nash's Magazine of December 1936 and Good Housekeeping.

4. Published ?

A Bulldog and his owners on the Californian waterfront of Los Angeles. These stories are based on a real bulldog which Mr & Mrs Cottrell Owned Conch Call has a photograph of Dorothy Cottrell on the first page.

File 7. 1937. A magazine, out-out of Teddy Bear. This article was published in Nash's Magazine in August 1937

The Australian Koala.

There are also included in this envelope photographs of koalas selected by Dorothy Cottrell to accompany the article.

File 7. 1940. Magazine cut-outs of Little Fellow published in Hearst's International-Cosmopolitan in September 1940

A small part-Shetland pony is left on an abandoned property in S.W. Queensland. It is attacked by dingoes and eagles but resumed by a poverty-stricken settler. The pony aids this man to capture a stallion and thus build up his fortune. This story is still included in Australian School English text books, presumably because of its effective evocation of outback landscapes and life.

File 7. 1940. Typescript of Attagirl Biscuit. Published in Good Housekeeping of October 1940 as The Circle of their arms

A mongrel dog on a film set in Hollywood.

File 7. 1947. Magazine cut-out of Hurricane North Atlantic. Published in The Saturday Evening Post February 1947

Hurricane storm in the Caribbean. This was Dorothy Cottrell's first story to be accepted by The Saturday Evening Post. She was delighted that she "had made the Post at last".

File 8. 1947. July. Magazine cut-out of The Reef. Published in Argosy

Survival and rescue of an airman who comes down in the sea off the Great Barrier Reef, Queensland.

These stories are mystery/investigation stories with Mother Seco as the chief character. Setting, California. The Mother Seco stories were published under the name of Barton Merrill.

File 8. 1948. Magazine cut-outs of My love will come, a three-part serial published in The Saturday Evening Post of February 1948

A love story between a young girl brought up on a remote Caribbean island and an "outsider".

File 9. c.1948. Typescripts of the "Ricky" story

1. I smell a dog

2. Cap'n Buck buys a store

3. The attested Miracle

4. The North Star by Earth's rotation

5. Are you Seagreen yet?

1. Was published in Argosy, September 1948. One was published in The Liverpool Daily Post c. 1960 under the title of Dove of Peace.

2. A widow and her young son Ricky live on the waterfront. Cap'n Buck, an old seaman, is Ricky's great-uncle and friend.

File 10. 1950. Typescript of details of hand operated elevator as shown in the article How to wear a wheel-chair, published in The Saturday Evening Post 10 June 1950, and special details of wheelchair and belt as mentioned in the article

This article is based on Dorothy Cottrell's own experiences and the lift she designed and had constructed at Pioneer House.